The organizing committee for the Internet Filtering Symposium is Shannon M. Oltmann, Emily J.M. Knox, Chris Peterson, and Deborah Caldwell-Stone. 

 

Shannon M. Oltmann is an Associate Professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky. She obtained her Ph.D. from Indiana University. Her research interests include information ethics, censorship, intellectual freedom, information policy, public libraries, privacy, and qualitative research methods. Oltmann is the Editor of the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy and on the Editorial Board for Library Quarterly. She recently published a book, Practicing Intellectual Freedom in Libraries. She has presented her research at academic conferences such as the Information Ethics Roundtable, the Annual Conference of the Association for Information Science & Technology, the iConference, and the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry. Her work has been published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Library Quarterly, Public Libraries Quarterly, Collection Management, Libri, and Library and Information Science Research. Oltmann is a member of the Mapping Information Access research team. 

 

Emily J.M. Knox is interim associate dean for academic affairs and an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her book, Book Banning in 21st Century America (Rowman & Littlefield) is the first monograph in the Beta Phi Mu Scholars’ Series. She also recently edited Trigger Warnings: History, Theory Context (Rowman & Littlefield) and co-edited Foundations of Information Ethics (ALA). Her articles have been published in the Library Quarterly, Library and Information Science Research, and the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy. Emily serves on the boards of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Beta Phi Mu, the Freedom to Read Foundation and the National Coalition Against Censorship. Her research interests include information access, intellectual freedom and censorship, information ethics, information policy, and the intersection of print culture and reading practices. She is also a member of the Mapping Information Access research team. Emily received her Ph.D. from the doctoral program at the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information. Her master’s in library and information science is from the iSchool at Illinois. She also holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Smith College and an A.M. in the same field from The University of Chicago Divinity School.

 

Chris Peterson works, teaches, and researches at MIT, where he is affiliated with the Center for Civic Media. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Coalition Against Censorship. 

 

Deborah Caldwell-Stone is Director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation. She is an attorney and former appellate litigator whose work addresses a wide range of intellectual freedom issues, including censorship of library resources, book challenges, internet filtering, and the impact of new technologies on library patrons’ privacy and confidentiality. She has served on the faculty of the ALA-sponsored Lawyers for Libraries and Law for Librarians workshops and speaks frequently to librarians and library organizations about First Amendment and intellectual freedom issues in libraries.